I am definitely not a morning person. But when it's this nice out, with the sun shining and some of the runners out in the infield getting warmed up, I can't help being excited. It's the sports equivalent of the moment when an orchestra is tuning up onstage in front of the audience.
Joe Juliano leads the Inquirer's coverage with a recap of Texas' victory in the Distance Medley Relay. Juliano also previews today's USA vs. the World races with a profile of Tyson Gay, who wants to challenge 100-meter sprint world record-holder Asafa Powell on the big stage.
Jeff McLane recaps the college women's races, led by Michigan's great win in the 4x1500m relay. Nice to see how much it means to the Wolverines.
Sam Carchidi writes a great column about the Masters runners.
Juliano, McLane and Keith Pompey's notebook is led by Coatesville's win in the high school boys' DMR.
The Inquirer also has two good photo slideshows.
In the Daily News, Ted Silary recaps the day for Chestnut Hill Academy shot putter Wayne Crawford, who finished in second behind another football player. He'll have quite the decision to make when he gets to North Carolina in the fall. Steve King writes a preview of USA vs. the World and throws in a few other tidbids.
The same is true for Frank Litsky of the New York Times, whose USA vs. the World preview highlights the 10-year-long rise to prominence of Tyson Gay.
In the Washington Post, Camille Powell tells us something I didn't know: that the Championship of America plaque weighs 30 pounds. Carl Little writes that Matt Centrowitz's record-setting time in the high school boys' mile is nothing special.
Two non-Relays stories. First, six Penn State football players, including Anthony Scirotto and Justin King, were charged yesterday after a brawl they were involved in four weeks ago. Frank Fitzpatrick and Bernard Fernandez have the details. Second, Dick Jerardi's story on St. Joe's guard Jawan Carter's transfer to Delaware.
